VOBSUB subtitles in MKV file

MKV playback, recompression, remuxing, codec packs, players, howtos, etc.
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retrofan
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2015 4:47 pm

VOBSUB subtitles in MKV file

Post by retrofan »

Hello,

Is there a way to force in MKV file where to display the embedded VOBSUB subtitles?
My Samsung Home Theater Center does show it somewhat too high in the screen and I would like to lower it a bit vertically, but there's no support anymore for this device.
Maybe MakeMKV could do this with patching some table inside the file or something?
Thanks!
Woodstock
Posts: 10312
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:21 pm

Re: VOBSUB subtitles in MKV file

Post by Woodstock »

VOBSUB subtitles are graphics, not text. When playing them, the player is assumed to zoom their size to match whatever size the raw video is zoomed to.

If the video was a "widescreen" image, it is possible the TV stripped out the black bars, zoomed the video to fit, then overlaid a non-zoomed subtitle on it. There isn't anything you can do within MakeMKV or set within the MKV file itself to "fix" this behavior.

As long as the subtitles are "switchable" (not burned into the video), you're at the mercy of the TV. You could use something like handbrake to process the file and burn the subtitles in in the correct place, but then they're permanent... which may not be right for you.

The "fix" maybe be to not use the "smarts" of the TV, but use it only as a monitor for a video player that does things right.
retrofan
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2015 4:47 pm

Re: VOBSUB subtitles in MKV file

Post by retrofan »

Hi, thanks for the tip about Burn In option. This Always works ofcourse, but I also found this:

https://matroska.org/technical/specs/su ... mages.html

Search for:
# Force subtitle placement relative to (org.x, org.y)

See last post of this thread:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=74146

So, probably it's possible to change something inside VOBSUB subtitles.
Hopefully MakeMKV could do something with this -> Feature request.
Woodstock
Posts: 10312
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:21 pm

Re: VOBSUB subtitles in MKV file

Post by Woodstock »

I doubt that MakeMKV is ever going to include "convert VOBSUB to text, edit it to match a different aspect ratio, and re-write it". But Mike might surprise me.

Although it is going to be a vary "niche" type item in any case. The problem with offsets like they discuss in the linked thread is, what about subtitles at are at the top of the screen? Offset left or right to indicate who is speaking? The true "fix" would be to get the source code to the subtitles, and implement them as stylized text (which is much more compatible with MP4), but the studios don't want us to have them.
Chetwood
Posts: 982
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 9:16 am

Re: VOBSUB subtitles in MKV file

Post by Chetwood »

Why would Mike ever waste time on this? It's MakeMKV, not OCRsubs. There's already apps for that, DVDSubextractor e.g.
MultiMakeMKV: MakeMKV batch processing (Win)
MultiShrink: DVD Shrink batch processing
Offizieller Uebersetzer von DVD Shrink deutsch
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